Living in a densely populated and hot country in Southeast Asia, Norway has always fascinated me with its astounding scenery and beautiful Arctic wilderness, and Vanessa’s blog Nordic Wanders just made me fall in love with Norway! I wanted to avoid the crowded touristy places and experience some mindfulness in pristine nature - also seeking that eerie feeling of being lost in the middle of nowhere. So, I chose the remote Pasvik Nature Reserve in Finnmark, a popular birding region bordering Norway, Russia and Finland.

What is better than combining a city trip to Tromsø - the Paris of the North - with a few days of road tripping in the Lofoten Islands - a region that can easily be described as Norway in a nutshell? That’s right - a trip to Tromsø AND Lofoten is hard to beat, but how exactly can you travel from Tromsø to the Lofoten Islands? The distance is a whopping 400 kilometres after all. Should you take the plane? Rent a car? Take the bus? Or go by cruise? Learn more about the different ways to get from Tromsø to Lofoten and find out which way works best for you in the following!

Northern Norway is probably already on your bucket list, however, while most people flock to Norway’s north in winter to see the Northern Lights, the region is a lot less crowded during summertime. Apart from the Lofoten Islands, that is. In the same way as everyone heads to Tromsø to see the Northern Lights in winter, tourism in Lofoten booms during the summer. Northern Norway has a lot more to offer than just the Aurora and Lofoten, though! If you haven’t considered visiting Northern Norway in summer yet, these 9 gorgeous places might inspire you to leave the beaten track and go somewhere other than Lofoten on your summer road trip.

Are you looking to combine a visit to Tromsø, the Gateway to the Arctic, with a stay in a glass igloo in Rovaniemi? You’re not alone! Each winter, I get emails from readers who can’t quite figure out how to get from Tromsø to Rovaniemi, and since they’ve now established a new winter bus route, I thought it was about time to give you the detailed rundown!

It's 8.30am on a Saturday morning at the harbour of Tromso in Northern Norway. The town is still asleep and there's no one around except for a few tourists on a boat named "Aurora Explorer" who capture mountain Tromstalstind at sunrise. It is a gorgeous sight indeed - a snowcapped mountain illuminated by pink sunrays.

Are you planning a trip to Tromsø next winter to see the Northern Lights? There’s countless of information out there on whether to book a Northern Lights tour, what to wear and what to see - but what are the things you should NOT, under any circumstance, do? Read on to find out!

Northern Norway stretches over almost 113,000 square kilometres, so it’s no surprise that you might feel a little lost trying to decide where to visit and trying to create an itinerary for your trip! Fortunately for you, I’ve had the chance to travel quite extensively between Norway’s northernmost village and Saltfjellet - the mountain range that sits right on the Arctic Circle - during the 3 years I’ve lived in Northern Norway myself. In this article, I’ll thus present you with 3 different itineraries for a trip to Northern Norway (in summer or winter!) lasting from 4 to 7 to 10 days.

You guys know that I’m madly in love with the Arctic, right? I mean, I might had to give up living there after 3 years but if the name of this blog is any indication, I still am a sucker for snow! Even though I’ve been living in Tromsø for several years, though, I never felt as much appreciation for the region as I did when I visited Svalbard. Suddenly, the Arctic felt the way I’d always imagined it to be: remote, majestic and different from anything else I’ve ever experienced!

Plenty of snow and temperatures below 0 - yes, Norway in winter is quite chilly, but that doesn’t mean that you have to look like the Michelin Man when visiting! Regardless of whether you’re headed to Tromsø to see the Northern Lights or are just planning a weekend in Oslo for New Year’s Eve, I’ll show you how I dress in winter myself and provide you with some cute outfit ideas that’ll let you visit Norway in style - even in winter!

Excuse the Buzzfeed-style title but there just are some places in the Nordics that can’t be described as anything other than epic! Personally, I’m a sucker for snowy landscapes and cabin holidays, and really don’t mind the cold of the Arctic at all. I happily spend hours frolicking in the snow and capturing the beauty, totally forgetting about the cold - until I notice that my hair is frozen and my camera is about to freeze up as well… This article, thus, aims to present 9 unique choices of accommodation throughout the Nordics, that’ll provide an unforgettable winter wonderland experience!

It’s prime Northern Lights season at the moment and it seems like every provider of Northern Lights safaris throughout Northern Norway, Swedish and Finnish Lapland, as well as Iceland, says that their destination is the best one to watch the Northern Lights – for so many different, not always actually entirely true, reasons. Thus, I thought I’d talk about some common Northern Lights myths I’ve encountered recently with you in this video!

You’ve probably followed the discussion about whaling in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, but did you know that whaling is also legal in Norway? And why is that still the case? Read the article to find out!

You have decided to visit Northern Norway to experience the Northern Lights or just to escape the tourist crowds of the south and explore the true wilderness of Norway? You’ve done a bit of research and have come to the conclusion that the Lofoten Islands look gorgeous as well, but you’re not quite confident to drive a car abroad - especially not during winter? Or maybe you’d just like to combine a Nordic city trip with exploring Norway’s great outdoors? Whatever it is that puts you in the position of having to decide between Bodø and Tromsø, I’m going to give you the rundown of both cities and tell you the good, bad and ugly about them, so that hopefully, you’ll be able to make a decision in no time!

Of course, how locals deal with winter depends a lot on each individual person and where they live exactly. Having lived for 3 years in the Norwegian Arctic and (at this point) 1 year in Southern Norway, I know that perceptions about winter differ greatly throughout the north and south of Norway alone, so surely they differ a lot more across cultures. The general attitude about winter seems to differ between areas north and south of the Arctic Circle, though. While most people I know in Tromsø or Bodø in Northern Norway are either quite fond of winter or simply don’t really care about the lack of daylight much, people here in the south of the country seem to be affected a lot more. What seems to be the key in this issue isn’t the lack of daylight, though - it seems as though it’s the lack of snow!

One of the biggest (and least crowded) gems in itself is the region of Finnmark, stretching all the way to 71 degrees north. I was lucky to experience life in the outskirts of Europe when I did my Workaway stay in the small village of Gamvik, and still regret that I didn’t went further east to explore the Norwegian-Russian border area around Kirkenes. Therefore I was all the more excited when I was contacted by Prityazhenie, asking if I’d be interested in writing a post about the region and specifically about Pasvik Nature Reserve - a national park that actually stretches over areas of Norway, Russia and Finland, and apparently is a heaven for bird watchers! If you’d like to really explore the wilderness of Northern Norway, Pasvik Nature Reserve seems to be perfect place. Here’s why:*

Winter is approaching and you are planning a trip to Tromsø? You've maybe heard of the ice hotel in Kiruna or Kirkenes? As of last winter (2017/2018), there is also such an ice hotel near Tromsø. Initially not designed as a hotel, demand soon required the option to stay there and this should be possible from this winter onwards. Last winter I took part in an organized bus trip from Tromsø and experienced the following:

With only a dozen hotels to choose from, accommodation options on Svalbard are pretty limited - and certainly not for those travelling on a tiny budget. I was surprised to find hostel prices in Longyearbyen at the same rate as you'd get a stay in a decent Scandic Hotel on the mainland of Norway. Nevertheless, the accommodation costs are totally worth to experience Svalbard up close and while it might not be entirely possible to visit Svalbard on a backpacker's or student budget, it certainly isn't impossible to save a few bucks - or splurge, if that's what you prefer!

Living in Tromsø for 3 years, I thought that packing for a trip to Svalbard in the summer would be a walk in the park. After all, I had all the proper winter gear and outdoor equipment and thought I'd be done packing in no time! Turns out, however, that things are a little more difficult… I thus decided to make a list of all the things I really ended up needing in the High Arctic and will also tell you why you can leave your down jacket at home, in this article!

Now, Tromsø might be situated way above the Arctic Circle and transportation options to and from the city might not be as frequent as they are for Oslo, but it's not impossible to get to Tromsø on a budget. There are in total 5 ways to travel to Tromsø - some of them rather fast and easy, and others rather slow and scenic - which I'd all like to present to you in this article, along with their pros and cons!

After all, I would have been stupid not to head to Svalbard when the archipelago only is a 1 1/2-hour flight away - am I right?! I definitely fell in love with the region and would have loved to stay just a night or two longer to explore even more. Personally, I'd say that Svalbard can best be explored in summer as opposed to the 24-hour darkness of the polar night that lasts from October to February - but I guess it depends on what you come there to do and see.

I visited Svalbard mainly to truly experience the High Arctic and see its stunning beauty up close. However, I've also always wanted to visit Russia and there's no other place in the world where you can actually do so without the need of a visa.

Are you looking for a last-minute summer getaway somewhere off the beaten path? Or have you been dreaming of the 24-hour summer days of the Arctic for ages? Either way, I know the perfect place for you: Malangen Resort near Tromsø! I was fortunate enough to stay at the resort on a work trip 2 years ago and couldn't help but fall in love with its surroundings. I mean, red cabins with a fjord view? Yes, please!

I totally get the wish, of course, but I'd also like to make sure that if you go, you choose a tour operator that cares well for the animals. What you need to consider before booking that trip and what to look out for before choosing a dog-sledding/reindeer-sledding or whale-watching tour, will thus be the topic of this article!

Imagine my excitement over getting the chance to visit a reindeer farm in Lapland this winter! Feeding and cuddling baby reindeer in a winter wonderland? That does sound like a day too good to be true, doesn't it? Well, you're lucky because I'm going to recap the entire day for you in this post - and don't worry, there's plenty of cute reindeer footage coming along!*

Despite my blog's name, the snow in Tromsø doesn't actually last all that long. In fact, winters in Tromsø nowadays, are more characterized by ice and slush than a firm snow cover that lasts 5 months. This winter, however, I was introduced to a place that actually offers 200 days of snow a year - a place that's perfect if you love snow as much as I do: Ruka-Kuusamo in North-Eastern Finland!*

Seeing the Aurora is on everyone's bucket list and I'm being asked questions about where and when it's best to see them, on a weekly basis. The honest answer, however, is that there is no such thing as "the best place to see the Northern Lights".There are pros and cons to all the tourist hubs in the European Arctic, which I'd like to explain in this article - along with information on what else there is to do and see besides hunting the Aurora.

Has winter in your neck of the woods left you disappointed yet again and you've finally decided to head to Finland next year to experience proper snowfall and cold for once? Well, I don't blame you! In fact, winter on Norway's west coast doesn't exactly last long either so I'm totally planning ro re-visit Finnish Lapland as well!

Iceland is one of those places you simply have to visit once in a lifetime. Unfortunately, it’s not really the cheapest country to visit. If Iceland is on your travel bucket list nonetheless, these tips will help you to get the most out of your trip without breaking the bank!

As there are no roads in Sjunkhatten National Park, the only way to get to Sjunkfjorden is by boat. The few hours of daylight during polar night in winter and temperatures of up to -35 degrees Celsius in the most extreme cases, contribute to this being one of the wildest places in the area – but for exactly this reason, Sjunkfjorden has got to also be one of the most stunning spots in the national park.

Bodø. A city with only 45000 inhabitants in Northern Norway - situated 100 km from the Lofoten Islands and over 500 km from Tromsø further north. Not many travelers know about Bodø and many of those who do only use it as a pit stop to get to Lofoten. Others don't even stop here at all and head to Tromsø instead, which arguably offers more sights and attractions but is thus also more crowded and expensive.